Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic helped lead Serbia to a down-t0-the-wire 91-95 loss against the gold medal-favorites United States in the Men's Basketball semifinals of the Paris Olympics. If a few calls had gone differently, could the Serbians have upset Team USA?
After the game, Bogdanovic had some strong words about the officiating, via Aris Barkas of eurohoops.com.
“I’m not that type of guy who will talk about referees, you know,” Bogdanovic said. “And I even wanted to win against referees too and respect to us for keeping it calm the whole game and not talking to them, talking about this doesn’t bring anything to us now.”
“We did do some good things, but we lost,” Bogdanovic continued. “In two days we have to recover and fight for the bronze. Those referees are going to be there too so I don’t want to think like a loser, even if I think that some things could have been called differently. We need to recover and play the best game that we can.”
The officiating and the quality of the Olympic referees has been a consistent talking point throughout the Paris games. The South Sudan federation complained that there was a “stigma” against their players and that the officials were calling more fouls against them assuming that they were playing more aggressively than they actually were. They have also been accused of favoring the host nation with multiple controversial calls in France's wins over Spain and Japan.
While it's not clear what specific plays Bogdanovic is referring to here, he is not the only one who is feeling unsatisfied with quality of officiating in Paris this year.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia narrowly lose to Team USA
Despite his concerns with the officiating, Bogdanovic still was able put together an impressive individual performance. He ended the game with team-high 20 points, along with four rebounds and three assists while shooting 8-18 from the field and 3-10 from three. While Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic has of course been the focal point for Serbia's offense, Bogdanovic has stepped up and been a worthy second option. He's averaging 18.8 points per game during this Olympic tournament, tied for fifth-best with his teammate Jokic.
Bogdanovic and Serbia will still have an opportunity to compete for a medal despite their disappointing result against Team USA. They will face Germany, who lost to France in the other semifinal match earlier on Thursday, in the bronze medal game on Saturday.
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